


It's Over

by Rojia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alice and Frank, The night they went mad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-03
Updated: 2013-01-03
Packaged: 2017-11-23 12:43:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rojia/pseuds/Rojia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It hadn't quite been three months since the news had gone out but everyone was breathing easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Over

**Author's Note:**

> Generic Disclaimer as always! Be aware there is swearing and some violence and it was written for a challenge on HPFF.

“It's over.”

That was what one of the aurors had said that night. It hadn't quite been three months since the news had gone out but everyone was breathing easier. The Dark Lord had met his end at the hands of an infant named Harry Potter. The world seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief, and they began to rebuild. People tried to go back to normal lives, although most of them didn't know what else there was having spent more of their lives fighting then anything else. As life slowly turned back to a more normal pace things began to quiet down, and people stopped being terrified all the time, they stopped worrying as much. Even the most paranoid of Aurors found themselves finally able to relax a bit.

“A quidditch team?” Alice asked with a raised brow, the baby in her arms trying to avoid sleep by reaching for her long, dark hair.

“Yeah, just the starters though, I don't think I could handle a full roster.” Frank said, looking dreamily out the window. “You know, with Nevs already being born that means we only need...” He began ticking the positions off on his fingers, “Six more. I'd rather have seven though, since then there would be an alternate....”

“Frank.” He turned his attention to her and she said simply, “You try that, and I swear I'll cut it off.” The sentence seemingly had the desired effect as a look of mild horror spread across his face. “I'm all for having a few kids but we are not having seven.”

“Eight.”

“Frank. No.” She said simply, the baby in her arms slowly drifting off so sleep as they talked. “I will not have eight children, if you want them so badly you can get pregnant and have them yourself.”

“Can I do that?” Frank said, suddenly becoming pensive.

Alice rolled her eyes at her husband, not particularly surprised considering he had always been a bit flighty, but that was part of what made him, him. She slowly stood from her chair and headed for the nursery, leaving Frank staring out the window as she went to put Neville down for the night. When he was securely in his crib she left, listening at the door for a moment after it shut. She had enchanted the room to sing to him when he wasn't quite asleep, first a song in her voice, then in Franks, and of course to muffle the sound from the rest of the house in case they had company or were listening to the radio a bit loud.

When she was sure he wasn't going to wake up and start screaming she headed back toward the sitting room, turning to head into the kitchen. “Do you want something to snack on? I'm a bit hungry still.” When there was no answer she poked her head back into the sitting room to see him staring out the window. “Everything alright?”

As she stepped back into the sitting room he glanced at her, “I thought I saw something moving out there.”

Alice glanced out the window herself but could only see trees. “It must have been your dreams of a quidditch team scurrying away.”

Frank grinned a bit and put his arms around her quickly, “You know I love you?”

“As you should, since I'm the only one willing to put up with you.” Alice said with a grin, giving him a quick kiss before he let her go.

She was half way back to the kitchen when Frank suddenly went to looking out the window again. “I swear I keep seeing something out there...”

“Frank, we live in the woods, there a a number of 'something's out there, just remember if you start having our trash bins attack people like Alastor's you're on your own with the ministry.” She said with a shake of her head. “Do we have any ice cream?”

The front door exploded into a thousand pieces as Frank was about to answer, throwing both of them off their feet and burying them in a pile of rubble as the front of the house collapsed from the blast. Before either of the Longbottoms could do much of anything besides hack and try to climb out of the debris, wands in hand, there was a wicked cackle that echoed through their sitting room. “Knock knock!” A woman's voiced said with a laugh.

Alice managed to appear first, swinging her wand wide and casting a haphazard shield, which was still enough to block a few of the hexes that went flying through the air toward her. “Frank!?” She managed to croak between hacks, but before she could find him her shield failed, and she found her self spiraling backward into the far wall. Frank hadn't even managed to free himself from the pieces of their house before he was struck, and they both tried in vain to get up.

“Ah ah ah.” The man that appeared from the cloud of dust that was still trying to settle over everything was none other then Bartemius Crouch Jr. “None of that now, Incarcerous.” He waved his wand a few times and a pair of chairs appeared, the ropes he conjured binding the couple and quickly dragging them to the chairs which they wound around as well.

“Barty!” Frank said, looking at the man with a quizzical sort of smile, “Ha ha, very funny, now fix my house and let us free.” It wasn't until another shape began to emerge from the haze, this time a women, that the small smile faded quickly, “Bellatrix.” The name was not said so much as spat.

“Oh my dear dear Frank, it is good to see you. After our last meeting I did so want to come visit.” Bellatrix smiled rather wickedly at them, pulling at a strand of her hair as she twisted her wand between Alice and Frank.

“Get out of my house you foul evil bitch.” Alice said, struggling against the ropes that held her to the chair.

“Well she does have a mouth on her doesn't she?” Bellatrix said, climbing over the bits and pieces of the house, followed shortly by her husband and his brother. “We'll have to fix that.”

Frank and Alice both watched as the four of them moved into the small cottage, Rodolphus Lestrange waving his wand absently at what would have been the wall behind him, the debris on the floor jumping up and reforming the front of the tiny residence. “What do you want?” Frank said finally, watching as the last bit of plaster reformed on the wall.

“We want information.” Rabastian said simply, running his fingers along his wand and pressing the tip to his finger absently. His eyes were glued to Alice, and she was glaring evenly back. Even in school they had never gotten along and now he was standing in her house, and Frank wasn't sure if him blowing the front off the house or standing in it was what made her more angry.

“About what?” Alice spat, her eyes drilling into the small man as if she might actually be able to kill him with that look.

“What do you think?” Barty said, plopping comfortably onto the couch he'd sat on a dozen times. He had come here numerous times, ministry parties, birthday parties, hell he was at their wedding. Now he was sitting there absently tapping a foot watching as Bellatrix descended on the pair.

“We want to know...” Bellatrix said slowly, bending down in front of Alice who looked like she might bite the other woman if she could manage to reach her. “Where the Dark Lord has gotten to?”

Alice raised a brow and Frank actually laughed. “The Dark Lord?” He asked with a slight snicker, “He's dead, killed when he attacked Harry Potter.”

Bellatrix looked at him for a moment, “Well that's the story, but the famous aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom would know the truth.”

“The truth?” Alice grinned at the older woman, “We won, you lost, and you'll all be in Azkaban before the year is out.” Bellatrix's wand pointed squarely at the ground as she examined Alice's face. “Maybe while you're all there you can convince the dementors to let you throw a wake.”

Something flashed in Bellatrix's eyes, her wand quickly coming round to point at the bound woman who cried out sharply and squirmed in pain. “That was rude.” Bellatrix said simply when the cruciatus curse had run it's course and Alice was left gasping for air.

“Get away from her!” Frank exclaimed, trying to free himself from his bindings as well. “The Dark Lord is dead, there is nothing to tell!”

“Lies!” Bellatrix rounded her wand on Frank for a moment, stepping toward him, but suddenly turned her wand on Alice again. Frank could only watch as his wife screamed again, tears running down her face. Bellatrix smiled at the look on his face and tilted her head, “If you keep lying we're going to have to keep hurting her.”

“He's not lying you ugly old hag.” Alice spat, her breathing still coming in gasps. Every auror had these curses done on them at least once in training, it was to teach them not to fear it. Alastor Moody himself had helped them overcome at least some of the effects of the imperious curse. Bellatrix turned to glare at her, her wand outstretched, but before anything could happen a sound came from the small hallway, the sound of someone crying. Barty bounded up off the couch and headed toward the sound, wand raised. “NO!” Alice called after him, struggling all the more against her bonds. Rabastian stretched out his arm and pointed his wand and she screamed again, shaking for a moment after the curse had run it's course.

“Look at this.” Barty said, reappearing from the hall with Neville in his arms, “The baby's home. Hello little one, it's uncle Barty. D'you remember me?” He held a finger up in front of Neville who reached out two tiny hands and began grasping it and trying to shake his hand around.

“Barty.... why don't you take him in the other room, ” Frank began but before he could come up with a convincing reason Rodolphus had produced his wand and was pointing it down at him, every nerve ending in his body screaming as if it were on fire. He gritted his teeth and managed only a loud growling sound, which seemed to satisfy the large man. “Just let him be Barty!”

Barty raised a brow at him, glancing between the two parents. “You actually think I'd hurt the poor thing? What a terrible opinion you two have of me.” He continued to play with the baby, swaying slightly from side to side as if attempting to put him back to sleep.

“Please, please put him back...” Alice said, Rabastian's curse cutting her short and replacing her pleas with a scream that caused Neville to start and begin looking around to find the source.

“Where is he?” Bellatrix asked again, her eyes sliding from the baby as Barty walked him around the room to Alice, who was ignoring her completely as she watched Barty and the baby. When Alice continued to ignore her she lifted her wand and cursed her again, the younger woman shaking and crying silently when the pain ended, her eyes still locked on the baby. “And you?” She looked at Frank, who's eyes darted from the baby to her and back again.

“He's gone Bellatrix, we don't know what happened.” Frank's eyes jumped back to her and then the baby again.

Bellatrix glared at them and then spun around, her wand leveling on Barty. “You tell me or I kill the boy.”

“NO!” They both screamed in unison, Alice suddenly railing against the ropes again.

“Don't you touch him!” Alice shouted, trying to tip the chair over but getting nowhere as the chair was apparently enchanted to stay upright. Bellatrix smiled a bit, working her way over to Barty and taking Neville in her arms. Her wand tip hovered in front of him and he reached out, batting at the wand as if it were a toy. “Don't you dare! You let go of him now!” Alice twisted and shook violently trying with all her might to escape from the ropes to no avail. Rabastian circled her chair with a small smile plastered to his face, his wand swinging toward her and away with each step.

“Tell me where he is.” Bellatrix's wand hovered there an inch from the baby, so close he was trying to chew on it.

It was then that the legs on Alice's chair exploded, the sound so unexpected the death eaters stared in surprise. The back of the chair cracked and splintered suddenly as well, the ropes disappearing as the chair vanished. Alice jumped for Rabastian, the closest of them, and grabbed his wand, a bright blue light shooting out of it before she turned it on Bellatrix, but the curses had taken their effect and she was a second too slow. Rodolphus quickly shot another cruciatus curse at her, the wand clattering to the floor as Alice dropped, screaming and writhing in anger.

“Accidental magic?” Rabastian said, picking up his wand and wiping it off on his robes as if her touching it might leave something behind that he could catch. “At your age, it took me by surprise. Your hex missed however.” He examined his wand, and when he was sure nothing was wrong with it he turned it on her. She screamed and rocked violently on the floor, Bellatrix cackling and handing Neville back to Barty.

“Let her go!” Frank said suddenly, his eyes locked on his wife as she whined slightly, sobbing as the pain faded, unable to get up. “Give her Neville, keep her wand and let her go. She doesn't know anything and he's just a baby...”

“Why on earth would we let her go?” Rodolphus asked, a small deep chuckle rolling out of his throat as he glanced at Bellatrix.

“I'll tell you everything.” Three of them looked at one another, Barty still rocking Neville as if he might be able to put him to sleep. “If you just let them go whatever you want to know, I'll tell you. I'll help you find him, I don't care, just let them go.... Without a wand she can't do anything, just please.... He's a baby, she doesn't know anything...”

“How about this.” Bellatrix said, crouching down next to Alice who was glaring at her, unable to move more then to shake her head in Frank's direction. “You tell us and I won't kill her.”

“I love you.”

All of them turned to look at Alice, who was staring intently at Neville who seemed to have just seen her over Barty's arm. The baby let out a small happy sounding noise, holding his arms toward her as if asking her to pick him up. “I love you Neville, I always will.” The death eaters chuckled and Barty turned Neville in his arms, making sure he couldn't see her anymore, Barty however locked eyes with her. “Barty please, take him to Augusta's, put him in the spare room she has for him, third door on the left.” She couldn't keep herself form sobbing at this point, “Please get him out of here, if you ever really were our friend. I'll tell them you helped us, please, just...” Whatever she was going to say dissolved into a scream when Rabastian pointed his wand at her, which caused Neville to stir and start fussing.

“You're waking the baby.” Barty brought his own wand up and pointed it at her, “Silencio.”

Alice's screams stopped, not even as she raised herself off the floor, only her feet, head and shoulders still touching the wooden floorboards. Her hands dropped to the floor and her fingers dug into the wood, but no sound came out of her mouth, even as she twisted and rocked and tried to do anything to get away.

“Stop it!” Frank yelled, trying to get out of his own restraints but it was no use. Even as he struggled Rabastian kept the curse going, every muscle visible in Alice's body tightening and straining as she squirmed, trying desperately to get away form the pain, but there was no getting away. “Please, just stop!”

After another few moments Rabastian finally titled his wand away from Alice, who dropped her entire body to the floor, although tears were streaming down her face and her eyes were locked blankly on the ceiling. He smiled wickedly at her, approaching and sidestepping Bellatrix who was still hovering near her. “Well look at this.” He waved a hand over Alice but her eyes didn't move and after a moment he laughed, “I think we've broken her.”

“You bastard!” Frank said, pulling as far as he could away from the chair, succeeding in making the ropes tighten themselves rather then loosen.

“Tell us what you know or we turn to the baby next.” Bellatrix said haphazardly, swinging her wand in her hand. “Or maybe we'll just see how much pain you can manage before you wind up a quivering blob like your wife.”

Frank spat in her face, Bellatrix seemed so surprised at first that she didn't even react. Slowly she reached up a hand and wiped the spit away. “Oh that was very stupid.” She glanced at Rabastian who reached his wand down and ran it along the side of Alice's face, leaving a long, thin cut in it's wake.

“I'll kill you all, leave them alone!” He struggled wildly and the ropes constricted again, making it a little difficult to breath.

Bellatrix cackled, “You it is then.” Her wand rounded on him and all he knew was how badly it hurt, how much he wanted it to stop, but it didn't stop. It kept going and going and he finally began hoping it would just kill him as he struggled wildly against the ropes. If they just killed him the pain would stop, if they just killed her then she wouldn't have to suffer any more either. The death eaters looked at one another and laughed at the way he was shaking and twitching in his chair, it looked quite ridiculous.

The door blew in for the second time tonight, a pair of figures appearing before the death eaters could react, all four wands sailing into the air in quick succession. Mad Eye Moody was the first of the two men to appear from the darkened doorway, an irritated look on his face as he stunned the Lestrange family members. “Alastor!” Barty said, appearing from behind a chair, Neville clutched closely to him. “Thank god you're here, I just arrived myself, grabbed the baby, wanted to keep him safe.”

Out of the dust Dumbldore himself appeared, leaving the gaping hole where the door had been, all but ignoring the feeble excuses Barty was giving as he approached Alice. She was still crying and there was still no sound coming from her, when Dumbledore waved a hand over her the silence seemed to lift, and she was revealed to have been mumbling. “He'll be strong... make it stop... he'll be good.... it hurts...” Her voice slowly faded into nothing and she simply stared up at the ceiling, her eyes occasionally twitching over to the older man and then back to the ceiling. Dumbledore stood and turned to Barty holding out his hands for Neville.

Barty handed Neville over without a moments hesitation, “Carefull of his head.”

Dumbledore took the baby quietly, “Alastor, take Mr. Crouch into custody as well.”

Moody stepped forward, grabbing Barty by the arm. “What!? No I didn't, I was just here to help, I got a message! Please! You have to believe me!” He went quiet when Moody put the tip of his wand to the younger man's neck and he crumpled into a heap next to the other death eaters.

Outside there was a sudden flurry of popping and movement. Remus and Kingsely Shacklebolt appeared through the doorway, stepping over the pieces of door and frame and wall and stopping short. “God, Albus.....” Remus said, staring at Frank who was hanging from the ropes that still held him to the chair. “Frank!” He stepped forward quickly, Kingsley moving to stop the bleeding on Alice's face. Molly Weasley appeared then, bustling in when she saw Albus with the baby and taking Neville quickly to the next room. Remus held out his wand and severed the ropes that held Frank which disappeared when they had been cut away. He helped him out of the chair and watched as Frank sat on the floor, playing with the bottom of his jacket. “Frank are you alright?”

Frank played with the trim of the jacket that the man who had cut him free wore. He hurt, he wasn't sure why but he hurt, and he wanted nothing to do with anything painful, and this jacket was very soft. It wasn't until an older man with a pair of jingle bells tied in his beard appeared that he looked up. He didn't know why but this man made him feel safer, as if somehow it was all going to be ok. He reached out and began tapping at the bells, a small smile stretching across his face.

Dumbledore looked down at the man with sadness etched in the lines of his face, watching as he played with the tie around his beard. “It's alright Frank.” He said quietly, the man looking up at him with an absent grin, “It's over.”


End file.
